Let’s be real: life is just one big beta test. Maybe someday someone will learn how to work out the racking kinks. Then again: a life without determining ups and downs would be dull (at best), which is why we turn to Swiss artist Sarah Haug, whose work, like that of gonzo artists before her, is influenced by her own lived-in moments.

Fearing that America is on course toward a new form of fascism, LA-based artist, Cleon Peterson, boldly challenges us to acknowledge the darkness intrinsic within us in his new exhibition, Blood & Soil.

It makes perfect sense that Ashley Mary counts Pee-Wee’s Playhouse among her influences; her world is equally colorful, cheerful and her own and like her clothes, her studio is a seamless continuation of her aesthetic.